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Pre-partum depression was the topic of a study in the New England Journal of Medicine that attracted coverage from NBC and CBS. If a pregnant woman is depressed, will medication with so-called SSRIs--brands like Zoloft, Paxil, Prozac--harm the development of her fetus? "Not risk free," was the analysis by NBC's in-house physician Nancy Snyderman. "Little reason to worry," was how CBS' Michelle Miller put it. Miller explained that any pregnancy has an average 3% risk of resulting in a birth defect. SSRIs increase those odds by a further 1%. However, as Snyderman noted, depressed women "may be at higher risk if they do not get treated." The bottom line, CBS' Miller concluded tritely, is that "women on antidepressants should consult their doctors immediately when they learn they are pregnant"--as if non-depressed women should not too.
